[amanda07]

The feeling is that oats turn manageable horses into hot headed beasts, that they are too heating.
The tide is changing but as with all things we take time change our ideas. Do you feed them throughout the year, if working and when not? Pehaps I should give them a try before other catch on and the price goes up!!
As for the sprouts, the’re given just as germination becomes visible, so no chlophyll:)
ps fed by volume

[amanda07]

@dominiquer60 5318 wrote:

The most sexually aggressive male will get his job done, the mild mannered ones can become too timid to be reproductively successful. Save the one that you like best, if you can keep two cockerels than it is a good idea to have a spare. If you can’t manage to keep two give your second favorite to a friend that would lend him back to you in case something happens to #1.

Thankyou, I’ve arranged to give one to a neighbour in exchange for a doe rabbit- cool, A

[amanda07]

As goodcompanion says the direct translation doesn’t help much. However, as I asked around a bit, i’m told that timber lorries have ‘trinqueballes’, that being the trailer…
I like ‘big-wheel’. If it works I think I’M going to call it that. If it doesn’t, I’ll call it……. A

[amanda07]

@near horse 5319 wrote:

Hi Amanda,

I’m interested to hear how adding oil helps with protein digestion. I’m not clear on this.
All the best.

My thinking has been informed by by reading some of the work of belgian vet nutritionists, writing in french and borrowed from my old farrier, so I can’t quote with exactitude, But the idea was, broadly, the vitamines in the oil helped with the absorbtion of proteins left undigested higher in the gut. This meant that the horse can profit from the feed without feeding larger amounts proteins (associated with overheating).
Further that essential fatty acids available in veg oil, increase energy, performance, stamina, cell development and repair, etc; etc; All that going with what we already know about a good vitamine intake…
However, their work went in to the details re: the germinated barley, suggesting that the nutritional quality of the feed changed when the seeds germinated (optimally 0.5cm) with the result that it is necessary to feed only half the amount for more than twice the benefit. What do you think?
BTW Wheat and oat were highly critisized in these studies (There is virtually a taboo in G.B. and France, associated with giving oats – I know of noone who does) so they can’t be getting it all right can they?!!

[amanda07]

Hi Ira, yes we’re in France where in this region at least we see few pairs!! most of the work is between rows of vines so that makes sense.. As soon as we can get out (it’s been raining slush again) I’ll post some pics. and will be pleased to hear what you think. Thanks
Jason, logging with horses is a growing interest here. I have two friends who log with singles (for their own needs). There’s more and bigger around but just not near us. The issue of level ground is perhaps my greatest concern (apart from my mule getting a log up his posterior!) the lands here are terraced but in very neglected; Still if we drag to the path and perhaps hitch it up from there…. A
Joel, Hi, the winch is at about 120cm -150cm and the mule is around 17hh. What’ the relation between height of the beast and the winch? A

[amanda07]

Hi, Robert,
I’ll try to put a pic in the gallery….
Cheers A

It comes up in the index under ‘A’. Thanks

[amanda07]

Hi, I’ve been using germinated barley for a few years now, I love it but i’m not dealing with large numbers of beasts. It cuts my grain bill in half, the horses do well on it, it non heating so the mule gets some too. It can be a bit of a pain in the bottom as it MUST be washed daily to take off any toxins associated with fermentation. it takes 4 days to germ so I keep4 buckets with holes in the bottoms, to make life easier. Cheers A
PS I started to add a little (40ml) of veg oil to help with protein assimilation, interested to hears what people think…

[amanda07]

@kiwiloggr 4008 wrote:

Over here we get a biproduct from the palm oil process called palmkearnal its a great cold feed and real cheap I was wondering if you folk get it over your neck of the woods.Its mainly used for dairy cows here but horses seem to do well on it.

Hi kiwiloggr, I’ve never heard of palm oil used as horse feed. How well do your horse(s) go on it? Do they manage to digest it better than we do?
I’m giving a little sunflower and colza oil in with germinated barley as hard feed this year….they seem to be doing ok but I’m not sure that it’s particularly helpful. It’s interesting, the different feedstuffs given on different continents. A

[amanda07]

You’re very probably right!! It took a little time for me to work out that certain contributors were not warm at 24 deg. We count in centigrade. Silly me. We are at 500m altitude and the lowest we go really is -15deg. I’m sure the extremes are much more important for youse. Here, as I said, clipping works really well for recovery and drying.
A.

[amanda07]

My grandmother used to say “you already know that which you are about to say, this is why the the wise place their lips together and listen”. I have taken great pleasure
during our current bout of foul weather, reading the questions and thoughts of the members here. If I have misled readers into believing I think it’s bad to train young horses I apologise; nothing could be further from the truth. Perhaps it’s the way I express myself and a slightly different vocabulary. If I may I’ll take this chance to explain my stance. I do belive that it is necessary to train horses from a young age; training being everything from handling to exercising that forms the horses’ apprentiship. Like you, I belive that this training develops the horses’ physical (and mental) potential and is essential for future strength and health; look at racehorses with those started as 4yr olds being twice as likely to sustain important injury than those who started racing as two year olds. However, the demands on the musculoskeletal system of heavy horses are different and the time to maturity longer.The influence of pull and push forces on ligaments etc; have the potential to interfere with solid bone deposit and may be associated with impeded growth and complex fractures in later life (tho’ I’ve no evidence, what about all that shoulder and hip arthritis we see in working horses?). I do not profess to to be any kind of expert. I do have a keen and current interest in learning from others and in understanding their beliefs. I’ve been doing what I do for over 40yrs now and welcome that “given” knowledge changes.??part of the work of sites like this one.Anyway, enough of what I think, and again sorry if I left youse feeling critised.
Thanks for listening, A

[amanda07]

Hi, George.
I like to clip out my horses expected to work hard over the winter. I had a nasty experience when I scalded my mare many years ago. Now, if they are expected to work for the greater part of the week, I find they go better (freer, and less stifled) when clipped. They dry off quickly and can be turned out in the usual field rug. Otherwise for the odd overheat, I’d thatch under the rug after scraping off and rubbing dry as best as pos. What are your views on clipping over there in the states? Cheers, Amanda

[amanda07]

Hi Robert, I’d have thought that the bredth of chest and width of hips would limit the traction of a donkey over a horse/pony?????… A

[amanda07]

I realised that I didn’t have a digital pic of him! Well, that’s changed. He’s watching the Monty Carlo go by, which between the cars and the helicopters, is very noisy and makes it difficult to get a shot between bouts of harrassment from his field mate. He is very big boned and comes in at around 600kg. As for character; We had a lot of re training to do when he arrived three years ago. He was originally dressed for working in the vineyards but after some unfortunate management came to us as ‘dangerous’. Some Aconite drops and consistent handling, although I wouldn’t say he’s docile he is trustworthy, hardworking and very tactile. I’m not sure what the link is, if there is one, between size and docility but the phrase ‘gentle giant’ is common, isn’t it.. Perhaps it’s something to do with the stance that we take in relation to size? Not so clever just to stand in front of the best part of a tonne hungry for its dinner! Anyone know anything more on the size and docility front?

[amanda07]

Hi, Just an idea, perhaps not too PC, have you thought about renting out your machinery? The income could be useful to get you and yours through the transition. Amanda

[amanda07]

Thanks Robert. The site is interesting and I found myself scurrying about all over. I’m not sure when I made the greater mistake, liming it when it may well have been heavily alkaline or keeping the horses on it now it’s probably very acid!! (The chemistry is beyond me; half lifes and oxydation rates might as well be chinese) so I’ll have to get myself educated and the soil tested….. Amanda

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